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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4174, 6 August 1874, Page 2

The question of delegating tho Governor’s powers to Superintendents of Provinces, in tho administration of tho Goldfields Acts, was brought once more before the Assembly, by a motion introduced yesterday in the Legislative Council by the Hon. Dr. Ren wick. Very different were tho circumstances under which the subject was introduced yesterday from those under which it was brought forward some years ago. Then, in consequence of a certain Superintendcntal election in Otago, tho General Government of tho day sought to seize, in tho name of tho, Governor, tho powers with which previous Superintendents had been entrusted, and exciting was tho struggle between the General and the Provincial Governments for the possession of a privilege of groat importance, with a result over which tho Provincial author!-

ties and "population had reason to rejoice. One result of the action of the General Government at that time, and of the agitation to which it led, .was the passing of an Act relating} to Goldfields, by which the Governor’s powers might, on demand, be delegated to Superintendents jointly with their Executives, but in the majority of the Provinces, if not in all, the Act has not been brought into practical operation. Yesterday, the motion made in the Council had for its purpose the delegation of the Governor’s powers to a Responsible Executive in Nelson Province, and it was introduced, not only with the tacit assent, but with the spoken approval of the Superintendent on the last occasion of addressing the Provincial Council. Under no popular pressure, with no petitions before them, but simply on the crude statement of a solitary member, the present Council of that Province, leas delicate towards the Governor’s delegate than their predecessors, passed a resolution that the Governor’s powers should be diffused, not concentrated, by being conferred upon the Executive as well as His Honor, and His Honor, with a liberality in sentiment and sympathy with which he has not always been credited, approved of the proposal. Fortified by this unanimity on the part of the Provincial authorities and representatives, Dr. Eenwick brought his motion forward, but, if he was desirous of seeing it carried, he had miscalculated the feeling of those best acquainted with the questions which it raised, and an amendment by the Hon. Mr. Bonar, that the matter be dealt with that day six months, was without difficulty carried. Both by Mr. Bonar and by Dr. Pollen very cogent reasons were given why there should not be exceptional legislation on the subject, and why there should, in the delegation of these particular powers, be imported as much personal responsibility as possible, and it would have been more satisfactory had the Superintendent of Nelson, at the time of the resolution of the Council, intimated his preference for a uniform system of delegation throughout the Provinces, or declined to approve so willingly as he did of a change which was not generally sought so far as his Province was concerned. Whichever may be the more convenient method of exercising the Governor’s powers under delegation, the circumstances in Nelson were not favorable for the introduction of the proposed change, seeing that the Superintendent himself, in word, if not in deed, has delegated to others his own responsibility, and seeing also that he and his advisers are not reputed to be in thorough accord ; and no one could well suffer by matters remaining in statu quo. Even if it were otherwise, there would have remained the anomaly that, in one division of the western goldfields, there would have been a Superintendent in sole possession of the delegated powers, while yet having the advantage or disadvantage of advisers, and in another division—namely, Nelson—a Superintendent who, because he has advisers, would have no share in the delegated powers, any more than, according to his own arguments, he has in any other matters concerning the welfare of the Province.